


True Love Has Nothing to Do with Roses (unconventional love)

by rweoutofthewoods



Series: All My Flowers [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Established Hunk/Shay (Voltron), Event planner Allura, Hunk (Voltron) is a Good Friend, James/Lance friendship, Keith and Lance are soulmates, M/M, Past Lance/Keith relationship, Photographer Keith (Voltron), Post-Break Up, Recovery, Relationship/friendship/family focused, Romelle/Allura relationship, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, This is a sequel fic, True Love, all my titles are always so long I'm sorry, enter: Curtis!, mentions of rape/non-con, set in New York
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-30
Updated: 2020-04-10
Packaged: 2021-02-19 04:48:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22038754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rweoutofthewoods/pseuds/rweoutofthewoods
Summary: A sequel to All My Flowers Grew Back As Thorns set two years after it ended.. . . .Lance lives in a world of soulmates, a world where when you fall in love with your soulmate your flowers appear on their skin. Lance's relationship with soulmate is complicated, years prior tragedy struck Lance's life leaving him broken and his relationship with his soulmate in shambles. Lance managed to piece his relationship with his soulmate, Keith, back together, sort of, but all these years later he's still not sure where they stand or where exactly they go next.After two years spent traveling, helping other people who have suffered because of soulmates, and speaking out about his hardest times, Lance finally decides to return home to his friends and soulmate. Except he quickly learns that you can't just end the story and live happily ever after.. . . .A story of unconventional love, breaking down walls, recovery, and family.
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Series: All My Flowers [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1531409
Comments: 22
Kudos: 58





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone! Welcome to the sequel fic to All My Flowers Grew Back As Thorns. There's a short little fic that ties into the sequel which is called I'm Not the Same as I Was and takes place while Lance is traveling, you don't NEED to read it, but it's gonna tie into this story so I advise you do. You should also definitely read All My Flowers Grow Back as Thorns before reading this (though it's okay if you don't, I still think you can enjoy this fic.) 
> 
> This one is a little different from the theme of All My flowers Grew Back as Thorns, It's very, very centered around the relationships of ALL that characters rather than just Keith and Lance. There will be arcs that follow, Hunk and Shay, Pidge, and the one I'm most excited for follows Shiro and a character I've yet to introduce to you guys.
> 
> A little disclaimer: I decided not to add a Rape/non-con warning, because I won't be going into it too far for this fic, but IT WILL be mentioned, so I'll add a trigger warning before chapters where it's talked about.

** Part one: Daisies **

****

_ “Every flower is a soul blossoming in nature.” – Gerard De Nerval _

. . . .

Honestly, all-in-all, it wasn’t too shabby. Lance missed his old apartment a bit, but it was his own choice to move out and his new place was nicer anyway.

He spun around surveying his surroundings and taking it all in, Lance had yet to unpack all his boxes but that was to be expected. Plus, after being away for so long, a lot of the things he’d owned back then he just didn’t seem to need anymore. He would need to go through a lot of it and donate things, but that was a task for another day.

As of right now, he’d unpacked all his essentials and got the furniture set up. The next step was food shopping because his fridge was empty and he was starving. Well, he could just order Pizza and get his groceries tomorrow, but that wouldn’t be very adult of him.

Sighing Lance grabbed a sweatshirt slipping it over his head and retrieved his keys from the counter dropping them into his pocket, time to get his grocery shopping on.

. . . .

After going food shopping Lance decided to go get dinner, he didn’t think he had the energy for cooking tonight so after quickly unloading his food he headed out, it was the perfect excuse to go visit Hunk at Balmera Café.

The bell on the door jingled merrily, as Lance stepped into the warmly lit Café.

“Lance!” A voice screeched.

Lance turned towards the register where one of the employees Amanda was standing bouncing on her toes and waving excitedly. Since he’d last seen Amanda, she had dyed her hair blue and she looked radiant. 

“Hey Amanda,” Lance waved making his way over to the counter.

“Hunk mentioned you were moving back but I still didn’t fully believe it, it’s been so long, we’ve missed you around here!”

“Aw, well I’ve missed being around here, I’ve had some great food, but nothing tastes like home quite the way Balmera's food does.”

“I’ll second that,” Amanda laughed.

“But about you…” Lance raised his eyebrows “Hunk told me you’re having a baby?”

She beamed at that “Yes! My partner and I are so excited.”

“Aw, I’m so happy for you guys. That’s great.”

The door behind the counter burst open and Hunk came barreling out “I thought I heard your voice! Oh my gosh, Lance, why didn’t you text me and tell me you were coming! I didn’t think I was going to see you until Saturday” He said quickly, his words tumbling out in an excited rush.

“Well, I needed dinner and I didn’t want to cook, so I figured I come surprise you.”

“Aw, well I’m glad you did. As you can see, we’re dead right now, I was going to close up early today. So I’ll eat with you,” he paused if you want.” He quickly added at the end.

Lance snorted “Of course I want, it’s been too long.”

“Well I was just making sure, you’ve been gone so long, what if you’d somehow developed an aversion to eating with people?”

“Uh, I’m not sure why I would have, but I definitely didn’t. So, I’ll order and then we can chat.”

“Okay cool, let me just let my employees know I’m taking a break, and I’ll tell them to go home after this. No need to keep them hanging around doing nothing.”

Lance turned to Amanda and ordered his dinner while Hunk disappeared back into the kitchen. After ordering Lance chatted with Amanda for a while and she told him about the possible baby names she and her partner were discussing.

“Lennon says we should choose something really unique,” She said referring to her partner, but I’m not sure I agree with them, I don’t want our kid to get bullied for their name.”

“Then compromise, go with a name that’s rarer but maybe something a little more classic, so it’s not just super weird.”

“Hm, that’s a good idea. I’ll have to look into more names,” She laughed shaking her head “Lennon says choosing the name is the hardest part, but they aren’t the one person who’s pregnant, and as the one who is I very much disagree.”

Lance chuckled “Well that’s understandable.”

Hunk appeared from the kitchen and Lance bid Amanda goodbye for now so he could go eat.

“I really can’t believe you’re back,” Hunk said shaking his head “It doesn’t really feel real, it’s been so long.”

“Yeah, well I felt like I’d accomplished everything I could on the road, it’s time for me to settle down and start building something more permanent.”

“Something more permanent?”

Lance smiled excitedly “I’m working on putting something together, it’s all still in the first stage so I don’t want to go blabbing about it before things are concrete, but I think I can do a lot of good with it.”

“So, you’ve got a new project then?”

“Yup,” Lance said with a pop “and it’s right in the city too, so not very far away.”

“But you got a new place here,” Hunk pointed out.

“It’s home,” Lance shrugged.

“Well, I’m not complaining, I’m so glad you’re back.”

“Me too,” Lance smiled softly.

Lance’s phone buzzed and he pulled it out shaking his head at the text on his screen.

“Ugh,” He groaned “I’ve got to go,”

“You’ve barely eaten.” Hunk frowned.

“I know, I know, I’ll take it home.”

“Okay, but make sure you eat.”

“I will don’t worry. I’ll see you for lunch at my place on Saturday, right?”

“Of course,”

“Cool, I’ll text my new address in the group chat, so you guys can save it. I’ll see you!”

Lance grabbed his food, waved goodbye and stepped out the door before Hunk even had a chance to really process it.

“Uh bye?” Hunk said as Lance disappeared into the night, the bell on the door jingling behind him.

. . . .

“So,” Hunk said to Shay that night as they got ready for bed “Lance stopped by the café tonight.”

“What?” Shay asked in surprise “Why didn’t you mention that sooner? How is he?”

“Well, he seemed good, uh busy I guess.” Hunk shrugged “He ran out halfway through his meal, barely even ate. The whole thing felt really weird actually. I hope he’s not overworking himself.”

Shay frowned “Well, he better be taking some time to relax, he’s finally home. I’ll ask him about it on Saturday, he deserves some time off.”

“Don’t lecture him,” Hunk warned, “You know how he shuts it out when someone lectures him.”

“I won’t, I won’t. I’ll just casually mention it.”

Hunk sighed “You don’t do casual that well.”

She made a face and tossed a pillow at Hunk.

He dodged it laughing before quickly throwing one back, it quickly turned into a full out pillow fight. Shay grabbed a pillow and chased Hunk down the hall as he shrieked like a child. Just your typical night in the Garret household.

. . . .

The sunrise was accompanied by a knock on Lance’s door, taking a quick sip of his coffee Lance rose from the table which was already covered in papers and Lance’s various notes to answer the door. You’d think it would have been surprising to get a knock on the door at five AM but Lance knew exactly which asshole would be up this early.

“Hey James,” Lance greeted swinging open the front door.

“Lance,” James smiled.

Lance pulled him into a tight hug his heart warmed at his friend’s presence.

“It’s good to see you man,”

“You too,” Lance said as they pulled apart “Way to drop by unannounced.” Lance chuckled.

“Well I noticed that your new address was on my way to work, and I knew you’d be up already because you’re a freak.”

“No more a freak than you.”

“Well of course not.”

“I brought you a muffin,” James said as Lance stepped aside to let him in.

Lance gasped dramatically “You didn’t! My friend, I do not deserve you.”

“Don’t get too sappy, I only brought it because I knew you’d probably forget to eat and I didn’t want you to starve.”

“Aw, James you care about me, that makes me even sappier.”

James laughed “I’ve got to get to work,” he said nudging his friend’s shoulder lightly “Don’t overwork yourself, I’ll text you at lunchtime to make sure you take a break for food, and don’t you dare lie to me! I’ll know.” James warned narrowing his eyes.

“Okay, okay.” Lance said pushing the other man towards the door “Stop bugging me, you have to go to work.”

“Fine, I’m going. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Okay, I'll see you then, oh and could you bring some kind of alcohol? I forgot to get any and I know Pidge will chew me out for it.”

“Sure, I’ll get something.”

“Make it something lunch appropriate.”

James rolled his eyes “Lance, I’m an event planner, I think you can trust me to choose something lunch appropriate.”

“Just no beer,”

“Of course not, I’m not a heathen, beer is for heathens.”

“And red-necks.”

“Red-necks fall under heathens.”

“I think that’s offensive James.”

“Probably, I just hate beer.”

“Me too, guess we’re just not the types for it. Keith does though.” Lance made a face.

“Wasn’t he born in Texas or something?”

“Yeah, his dad was a total country guy from what I understand.”

“Well, that explains it.” His phone dinged and James glanced at it his eyes widening as he caught sight of the time “shit, I’m gonna be late. Remember to eat lunch! Bye!”

He was gone in an instant and Lance shook his head at his friend’s antics, shutting the door he turned back to his laptop. He still had a shit-ton of work to do.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAPPY NEW YEAR!! 
> 
> Fun fact, this month will be a year since I posted my first fic on here, I can't believe it.

_ “If I had a single flower for every time I think about you, I could walk forever in my garden.” – Claudia Adrienne Grandi _

_. . . . _

__

Keith could admit it, he really could. When Shiro lectured him over the phone he didn’t  _ deny  _ it. He didn’t exactly take it gracefully, but he still could admit.

So, Saturday morning when Keith arrived at Shiro and Adam’s place with his laptop in tow and Shiro said: “You are not fucking working this weekend.” Crossing his arms sternly, Keith didn’t get defensive.

Well, not  _ that _ defensive.

He just rolled his eyes “I won’t, I won’t.” He said lying through his teeth.

Keith had to finish coordinating a shoot they were planning for the June cover of  _ Diversified  _ and he had photos from an independent shoot he did that he needed to edit. Keith chose not to tell Shiro this.

Shiro narrowed his eyes but accepted Keith’s lie. “Well you’re late, we’re leaving for Lance’s in fifteen minutes go put your bags away.”

“Commuting out of the city is a bitch, it’s not my fault traffic was so bad today,” Keith said with a sigh.

. . . .

Arriving at Lance’s place Keith looked around, it was weird to not be going to Lance’s old apartment, which was the apartment that Keith lived in back when he and Lance lived together. The new place was nice though.

Adam stepped forward knocking on the door, there was a brief moment of silence before Lance’s voice yelled from inside: “The door is unlocked, come on in!”

Adam shrugged and opened the door, they were met by a messy scene.

Lance had his arms full of papers and was stuffing them into a bag, in doing so he’d knocked pens off the table that were slowly rolling across the floor, trying to make an escape.

“Aw shit,” Lance cursed dropping the papers and grabbing a pen that was about to roll under the couch.

Retrieving the pen Lance shoved it in the bag followed by the papers before straightening up. “Uh hi guys,” He said breathlessly.

“Is everything good?” Adam asked raising an eyebrow.

“Yes, yes. I uh just forgot to clean off the table.”

“Haven’t you been living here for like three days?” Keith asked eyeing the mess of stuff that was spilling out of the bag Lance held in his arms.

“I’ve been working!” Lance said huffed offended.

“Sounds like an excuse.”

“Fuck you, Keith,” Lance glowered “also welcome to my new place!” He added brightly his demeanor changing in an instant.

“Thanks, for having us over.” Shiro smiled “We’ve missed you around here.”

“Aw, I’ve missed you guys too! But I’m back for good now,” he smiled “well… he added “probably.”

“Probably?”

“Yeah, well you never know what’ll happen.” Lance shrugged offhandedly.

The door opened suddenly, and Griffin walked in.

“Did you—” Lance started to ask but Griffin cut him off.

“Yes, I got it, Lance. I’m starting to think that you don’t trust me. Why don’t you trust me?”

“I do trust you!”

“Well,” Griffin handed Lance a paper bag that looked to be alcohol.

Lance opened it and nodded satisfied “This is great, thanks, James.”

“Of course.”

“See I knew I could trust you. “

“Maybe you shouldn’t though,” Griffin said a wicked smile making its way onto his face.

“Oh no,” Lance said.

Griffin pulled out a pack of beer from behind his back and Lance shrieked.

“Heathen! You are an abomination to society! Does this look like a barbeque to you James Griffin? Are we on a farm?”

“I mean your table looks a bit like a pigsty,” Griffin shrugged.

Lance gasped “I was working! Why is everyone coming after me?”

“You’re just so attackable,” Griffin said, he took the paper bag out of Lance’s hands and put it on the kitchen counter.

“You have some nerve, James.” Lance glared.

“I know,”

“Wait what’s wrong with beer?” Keith asked. “I like beer.”

“I know it’s a terrible personality flaw, but I accept you, bad taste and all.” Lance smiled.

“How was that both sweet and insulting?”

“I’m just talented like that.”

Keith rolled his eyes.

There was a knock at the door and Lance ran over opening it up to greet Hunk and Shay.

The whole scene dissolved into a mess of happy chattering as Lance welcomed them and soon after Allura, Romelle, and Pidge arrived, all shoving into Lance’s small living room, talking and laughing.

Through the afternoon Keith couldn’t help but watch Lance, he’d been caught doing it a few times, but he couldn’t take his eyes off of his soulmate. Something about Lance felt off, but Keith couldn’t figure out what. He didn’t seem tired or upset, he didn’t have that look in his eyes that still appeared in Keith’s nightmares sometimes, cold and lifeless. Lance seemed perfectly fine, and that put Keith on edge.

It was probably some weird mental thing, right? Like Keith felt when things were too normal and perfect it was all going to go wrong any second. He needed to relax, things were perfectly okay.

. . . .

Lance was not okay, he kneeled on his bathroom floor over the toilet. Unfortunately, in the month Lance had spent in his new apartment he’d already become very familiar with the feeling of the tiles etched into his knees.

When Lance felt that he probably wasn’t going to throw up anymore he sighed and picked himself up from the floor quickly flushing the toilet.

He washed his face and brushed his teeth (because c’mon that shit’s nasty) and he wandered over to the fridge to pour himself a cup of ginger ale hoping it would settle his stomach. It worked enough that he decided to sit down and get some work done. He still needed to shower, he was meeting his friends at the park later for a picnic because the weather was super nice now that winter was almost over. Lance looked forward to the sunshine, he found that he generally felt better when the sun was out. Being outside in the sunshine reminded Lance of some of his favorite memories, days spent playing outside when he was a kid, beach days with Keith, the summer road trips Lance used to take with Hunk and Pidge when they were in college.

Lance was looking forward to today’s picnic.

. . . .

“Hey, Lance!” Pidge greeted waving him over, to where everyone was already gathered, it seemed that Lance was the last to arrive.

“Hey,” Lance smiled as he approached.

“You’re late,” Keith remarked in lieu of a greeting.

“You’re not one to talk, you’re always late unless Shiro or Adam are the ones bringing you.”

“Yeah well, I’m me,” Keith shrugged.

“Funnily enough I’m aware of that.”

Keith didn’t attack back, instead, he just nudged Lance’s shoulder softly “Yeah, yeah.”

Lance shot Keith and sweet little smile which he’d always reserved just for his soulmate. Keith smiled back and Pidged pretended to retch in the background.

Lance ignored her.

“Is James joining us today?” Shiro asked.

Lance shrugged “I don’t know, he’s not speaking to me at the moment.”

Shiro’s brow furrowed in concern “How come, is everything okay?”

“Oh yeah, he brought me a sandwich last week and I forgot to eat it so he said if I didn’t eat the food he brought me again he wouldn’t talk to me for twelve hours straight. Then he brought me a doughnut yesterday and he found out this morning that I didn’t eat it so he’s refusing to talk to me.”

“That’s so weird,” Keith shook his head.

Lance raised his eyebrows “Keith my dear and stupid soulmate, you once didn’t talk to me for five days just because I said that you didn’t  _ actually _ hate conversation because you talked to me a lot. You are not allowed to talk about weird.”

“That’s… fair.” Keith admitted begrudgingly.

“Can I have the doughnut?” Pidge asked.

“I- what?”

“The doughnut you didn’t eat, can I have it?”

“It’s stale now and it’s at my apartment.”

“I don’t care.”

“I mean, okay? If you really want it.”

“Cool.”

“How about we eat some not stale food now?” Hunk asked, “I have sandwiches.”

“Oh yay!” Pidge jumped up to get the first pick of sandwiches.

Once Pidge had chosen hers Hunk handed them out.

“What kind do you want Lance? Turkey?”

“Uh, actually I’m not really hungry. So, none for me.”

Hunk frowned “Are you sure? They’re good.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m sure they’re great but I ate a late breakfast today, so I’m just still full.”

“Okay, if you’re sure. I’ll save one for you and you can take it home.”

“Thanks, Hunk, that sounds great.”

After everyone but Lance had finished their sandwiches, they all sprawled out in the sun and just hung out. Normally Lance would have been content to do the same but today wasn’t a particularly good day, he still felt kind of sick and restless. Plus, he had a ton of shit to do.

Lance bit his lip standing up, “Actually guys, I realized I have stuff I need to finish. So, I should head out.”

Keith made a face “But you just got here like twenty minutes ago.”

“I know, I wish I could stay, but I’ve got work stuff to do.”

“It’s the weekend,” Pidge pointed out.

“Yeah, but I don’t have the most conventional job, the work waits for no one.”

“Okay,” Hunk said “well, we’ll see you soon then. Don’t overwork yourself.”

“Of course not,” Lance said to his friend reassuringly. “Oh, and Keith before I go, when are you going back to the city?”

“Monday morning, how come?”

“I have some work stuff there, I needed to be there on Monday too actually. Mind if I go with you?”

“Of course not.” Keith cocked his head “what kind of work stuff do you have?”

“I can’t tell anyone yet, we still don’t have anything concrete, but if all goes well I’ll be able to tell you guys what we’re doing after this trip.”

“Okay, well I’m sure whatever it is you’re doing it’s going to be great.”

Lance smiled “Thanks, Keith.” Lance phone started to ring in his pocket, he pulled it out and checked the caller ID “aw shit. I’ve gotta take this.” He quickly gave his friend’s hugs goodbye, Keith was the last person Lance hugged.

There was a soft moment as Lance stepped back from Keith and his soulmate grabbed Lance’s hand touching the slightly faded but bright and alive flower on Lance’s hand. Their hands fit together perfectly as the always had, the small but always persistent flower on Keith’s hand lining up with the newer one on Lance’s.

Lance smiled at the sight and the flower on Keith's hand shuddered in front of their eyes becoming just a little brighter.

Lance blushed and Keith chuckled, he stepped forward pressing a quick kiss to Lance’s cheek “Go take that call, I’ll see you Monday.”

Lance laughed “Okay, okay. Bye,” he stepped back and said a little louder “bye, everyone!”

He turned his back starting towards where his car was parked and quickly answering his phone “This is Lance Mclain…”

. . . .

“So,” Pidge said turning to Keith as soon as Lance had disappeared from view “what’s the deal with you and Lance?”

“We’re friends, and soulmates, obviously. But you know how it is.”

“You kissed him,” She said wiggling her eyebrows.

“On the cheek,” Keith rolled his eyes “I’ve kissed you on the cheek before.”

“Yeah, but I’m not your soulmate.”

“Lance and I just friends.”

“Friends that are in love with each other.”

“So what?”

“So, I don’t understand why you guys don’t get back together.”

“What just because we’re soulmates we’re supposed to be dating.”

“No,” Pidge said crossing her arms, “I think you should be dating because you’re in love, regardless of soulmates and shit.”

“Well, firstly Pidge, it’s none of your business, secondly Pidge we’re not ready to be together again,” Keith said standing.

“Guys,” Shiro said trying to step in but they ignored him.

“It’s been two years!” Pidge said throwing up her arms “Three if we’re counting since you guys broke up, how can you still not be ready?”

“Because it fucking hurt Pidge! You can’t go through pain and heartbreak like that just to shake it off and get back together! I’m not going back to Lance until I can be sure that we’re not going fuck things up, I can’t go through that again, and I can’t let Lance go through it again, lord knows he’s been through enough for fucks sake! So why don’t you just stay the hell out of my business okay?”

Keith turned and stormed away before anyone could stop him, leaving Pidge gaping in his wake.


	3. Chapter 3

_ “The present changes the past. Looking back you do not find what you left behind.” _

_ ― Kiran Desai, The Inheritance of Loss _

. . . .

“You shouldn’t have gotten on Keith like that,” Shiro said to Pidge disapprovingly.

“It’s not my fault he got so angry!” She replied defensively.

“Pidge…” Shiro said shaking his head “why are you acting like this.”

“I…” she paused her gaze falling to her feet “I just want everything to go back to how it used to be, back when everything was easy. Before Keith and Lance broke up, before Lance left. It’s like everything has been ruined since then, we’ve all been acting like everything’s normal for years. But it’s not, I just want everyone to be happy again!”

“Pidge,” Hunk said softly stepping forward to take his friend’s hand, “I think you should consider that you may be idealizing how things were back then. Life wasn’t perfect, maybe it was simpler but that’s just because we didn’t know all the complicated things yet.”

“I just feel like things should be better by now.”

“Better doesn’t mean it has to be the same as it used to be, things are changing around here, Lance is back. I think this is the start of that  _ better _ you want to badly.”

“I hope so,” Pidge said softly “I really hope so.”

. . . .

“Hey,” Pidge said over the phone later that night.

“Hey,” Keith replied carefully

“I uh, I wanted to apologize for getting on you earlier, it wasn’t any of my business and it was wrong of me. I’m sorry.”

“Thank you Pidge. It wasn’t your business, but I understand. It feels like it’s taking forever for life to get back to a good place. And of course, I want to get back together with Lance, I miss him every day I’m not with him, but there’s no need to rush things.”

“I-I just wish I knew how to bridge the gap between life being okay to it being actually good.”

“Maybe that’s just not something we can know,”

“Maybe not, but I wish I could.”

There was a moment’s pause on the other side of the line before Keith said quietly, “Me too.”

. . . .

“So, are you ever going to tell me what you’re doing in the city?” Keith asked leaning back as the bus they were on inched through its commute.

“Well, I didn’t want to tell anyone yet, because it’s still in the earliest stages, but I suppose I can make an exception for you.”

“So?” Keith said raising an eyebrow.

Lance sighed elbowing his soulmate playfully “So I’m creating like a community center…”

“A community center?”

“Yeah, I wanted to make a safe place for people to go regardless of like soulmates and such, our society is so centered around soulmates that it’s hard to find a place free of that. As I mentioned, it’s still all being planned, but so far, we’ve decided that it’ll be like a place that offers therapy, and support groups as well as social settings like a café where people can go to meet other people, we’ll also hold events and stuff. The goal is just to have a safe place for those who feel out of place in society because of their relationship with their soulmate or lack of one. Traveling around the world I heard so many different stories from so many different people and I realized that feeling ostracized because of soulmates is actually something that a lot of people experience.”

“Wow,” Keith said shaking his head “that’s incredible Lance, it really sounds like you’re doing something amazing. You know I’d never thought about it before, but I do really think the world needs a place like that.”

“Yeah? I hope this will be the first of many.”

“Me too," he sat up suddenly remembering something "Oh! By the way, if you’re going to be in the city a lot and need a place to crash or just a quiet place to do work you can always go to my place.” Keith offered.

“Really?”

“Of course, here give me your phone and I’ll put my address into your contacts.”

“Wow, thanks, Keith.” Lance fished his phone out of his pocket and handed it to Keith.

“No problem.”

As the bus came to a stop at the station and they stood up gathering their things Keith turned to Lance, “Oh, also I have a spare key you can have so you can let yourself in anytime you want.” He said going through his bag and quickly pulling out a key, “Here,” he said handing it to Lance.

“Oh,” Lance said slightly taken aback “are you really sure?”

“Yeah, come by anytime. Commuting to and from the city can get exhausting. So crash at my place if you want, you don’t even need to let me know beforehand, like jut show up if you want.”

“Wow, thanks, Keith, that’ll actually make things a lot easier. I was originally considering renting a place here, but I was worried about the cost.”

“Yeah, well now you don’t need to.”

. . . .

The first time Lance took Keith up on his offer was about two weeks later. It was almost twelve on a weekday and Lance really didn’t feel like commuting back home at this hour, so he went to Keith’s. He was a little hesitant to just let himself in but after a few minutes of debating with himself Lance pulled out the key Keith had given him and opened the front door.

Keith’s apartment was dark and empty, he clearly wasn’t there. Lance dropped his bag on a chair and looked around. 

The apartment was fairly basic there was a small kitchen to his left, a living room on the right and ahead of him a little hallway that probably led to the bathroom and bedroom. Despite being a photographer Keith didn’t have many photos on his walls. There were a few older pictures hanging in the living room of Keith with Shiro as a teenager as well as one from Shiro and Adam’s wedding with the three of them smiling brightly at the camera. There was a picture of Keith’s dog Kosmo who now lived with Shiro and Adam since Keith’s apartment didn’t allow pets.

What surprised Lance was the picture hanging up of Keith and Lance together, it wasn’t very old unlike most of the pictures, but one from just last year, sitting in the grass in front of the Eiffel Tower the sun shining behind them, Keith was squinting in the bright light while Lance had his head back laughing.

Lance felt a small smile make its way onto his face, the picture was sweet and something about Keith having it up in his home, made Lance feel warm inside.

Yawning Lance turned from the picture to sit on the couch, figuring he’d just rest for a second, he leaned back shutting his eyes.

. . . .

Keith was having a bad day. He’d had a shoot that went terribly. Then at the last minute, the photographer who was scheduled to work a shoot that evening canceled because she’d come down with a stomach virus. So, Keith had to fill in for her. By the time he got out of work it was almost nine and he hadn’t even had dinner yet. He decided to stop for food and then figuring he might as well put the cherry on top of this awful day he ran the errands he had planned to do earlier, picking up groceries from a twenty-four-hour store.

It was past midnight by the time he arrived home. Keith was so tired that he had started putting groceries away before he even realized that Lance was there, quietly stepping over to the couch Keith’s heart melted and the sight of his soulmate fast asleep He was a little surprised that Lance had come because he’d seemed hesitant when Keith had offered him the spare key.

Shaking his head Keith quickly retrieved a blanket draping it over Lance before returning to his groceries and continuing to put them away quietly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry guys, not a lot happens in this chapter but I'll admit I kind of just wanted to get it out here. Also sorry that updates have been slow.
> 
> Unfortunately, I have a life, school, a job, and all that shit. So I can't write as much as I want and as much as you guys deserve. It's audition season and I've been SUPER busy with preparing for my college auditions (yes I'm outing myself as a vocal/music nerd, whoops). But good news, I did the last one this week, so I will throw myself back into writing again.
> 
> Love you guys <3


	4. Chapter 4

_“The truth is rarely pure and never simple.”_

_― Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest_

Lance woke with the sun in his face, which was unusual because he was usually up before the sun. He groaned sitting up tiredly, he was startled to remember that he was at Keith’s place. Light was shining through the curtains and the sounds of the city were loud outside, someone was yelling down the street, there was the sound of sirens in the distance and a car horn being sounded erratically, someone was definitely angry.

A lot closer was the sound of something sizzling in a pan and footsteps in the kitchen. Yawning Lance sat up to see Keith at the stove, humming softly to himself as he cooked.

“Hey,” Lance said his voice heavy with sleep.

Keith turned smiling softly “Good morning.”

Lance rubbed his eyes standing up from the couch “Sorry for coming here and totally crashing. I meant to wait until you got here to make sure it was alright, but I fell asleep.”

“I already told you it was fine when I gave you the key.”

“Yeah but—”

“No buts, I told you it was fine. I don’t mind you crashing here, but by the way, I do have a guest room, next time you should sleep in there.”

“Oh, well thanks.” Lance smiled joining Keith in the kitchen.

“Do you need to get home, or can you stay for some breakfast?”

“I’m not in a rush. I’m supposed to meet Hunk and Pidge for lunch today, but I should have more than enough time to get home.”

“Okay cool, would you like some blueberry pancakes? Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.”

“You sound like Shiro, but yes I would. I do love blueberry pancakes.” Lance said happily.

Keith chuckled fondly “Okay, could you grab plates for me? They’re in the cabinet above the dishwasher.”

. . . .

Hunk and Pidge exchanged looks as the clock ticked past another minute. They both stayed silent watching the hand move slowly until another minute passed and she threw up her hands in exasperation.

“Okay, he’s forty minutes late now!”

“I know, I know.” Hunk sighed “I’ll try to text him again.”

Hunk pulled out his phone and typed out a quick text before setting it down on the table. They’d been sitting in a small booth in the back of their favorite restaurant for the past forty minutes waiting on Lance who they were supposed to have lunch with, except he hadn’t shown up.

Hunk’s phone dinged suddenly, and he snatched it up.

“Is that Lance?” Pidge asked leaning over the table trying to see Hunk’s screen.

“Yes,”

“What did he say?”

Now, Hunk wasn’t exactly known for rolling his eyes, he wasn’t like Keith who rolled his eyes so often Hunk wasn’t sure how they weren’t stuck in the back of his head. Hunk thought that rolling your eyes was unnecessary and a bit rude. He didn’t like it, but now he rolled his eyes with a sigh.

“He said, that he’s going to be late.”

“Well, no shit!” Pidge so exasperatedly.

They waited another fifteen minutes before Lance finally showed up throwing himself into the booth next to Pidge.

“Hi,” He said breathlessly.

To say Lance looked a bit disheveled was putting it too nicely, he looked a mess. Lance’s hair was windswept and sticking up in places, his nice work shirt was wrinkled and there were dark bags under his eyes.

“Are you okay?” Hunk asked raising an eyebrow. “How come you’re so late, it’s like fifteen minutes from your apartment to here.

“Well,” Lance sighed “I did not, in fact, have more than enough time. Fucking New York City traffic, I should have known better.” It seemed like he was more scolding himself than talking to them.

“You were in the city? It’s a Saturday, were you working?”

“No, no, I was working in the city yesterday, and it got late so I just crashed there. Then Keith was all ‘breakfast is the most important meal of the day’ and I was like okay I’ll eat an extra hour won’t hurt, I’ll still get back in time.” Lance said switching from a low voice which seemed to be a poor imitation of Keith and back into his own. “But then there was so much traffic and it took me hours to get back here and I just got a taxi to drop me off right here when I finally got into town because I was late!”

“Wow sounds like you’ve had a hectic morning. I suppose I can forgive you for being late and making us wait this long to get food.” Pidge shook her head.

“Gee thanks Pidge.”

A waitress came over to finally take their order and Pidge ordered three things of fries just for herself.

“I’m hungry.” She glared when Lance raised his eyebrows at her order

“So,” Hunk said once the waitress had left “How’s the center going Lance?” Lance had told them all about it a few weeks ago, Hunk could it was really important to Lance and he was proud of his friend.

“Oh good! Things aren’t quite off the ground yet, but we’re getting there!”

“That’s so great, I just know it’s going to be incredible.”

“Thanks, Hunk,” Lance smiled warmly “How are you and Shay, anything new?”

“Uh, we’re fine, normal. Why would there be something new? There’s nothing.” Hunk said and as soon as he said it, he could tell he sounded too defensive.

Lance made a confused face and Pidge raised her eyebrows.

“I don’t know,” Lance said, “I just figured I hadn’t seen you guys in a while and I was wondering if there was anything exciting. You’re acting weird.”

“Oh well…” Hunk trailed off quickly thinking of how he could cover this “well actually something new has happened, I mean we’re not sure about it yet so we didn’t want t tell people. But we’re talking about buying a house, moving out of our apartment.”

“Wow really?” Pidge asked surprised “I thought you two would never move out of that dingy apartment.”

“Hey! Our apartment is not dingy!”

“Okay, okay, but it’s not very nice either. You guys can definitely afford something better by now.”

“Yeah, we just never got around to it.”

“Well, that’s awesome. You should take me house hunting with you sometime!” Lance said excitedly.

“Okay, okay.” Hunk agreed.

The conversation turned to Matt as Pidge recounted the latest absurd tale of her brother’s endeavors, Hunk sat back relieved that his friends had accepted his excuse so readily.

It’s not like he was lying Hunk told himself to stamp down the guilt he felt for misleading his friends, he just hadn’t exactly told the whole truth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! So I know this chapter is short, I'm sorry but I really wanted to get it posted today because it's my AO3 anniversary! I posted my very first fic on here a year ago today and since then I've written and posted six complete works which blows my mind!
> 
> But anyway, I just wanted to kickoff Hunk's little journey and arc in this chapter, because so far you guys have only been getting just a little taste of Lance's shit.   
> I'm so excited to write everyone's arcs, Shiro has one that I'm really hyped about, though I don't even know if I should mention that now because looking at the plotting I've done and my timeline it's probably going to be a while before we get to that, but I'm just so excited! 
> 
> Fair warning guys, this fic probably going to be a pretty long one. I have so much and I think it'll probably span about two years in our character's time.


	5. Chapter 5

_“People go to LA to "find themselves", they come to New York to become someone new.”_

_― Lindsey Kelk, I Heart New York_

Curtis Avery was not a messy kind of guy… or okay, that was a lie. He was awkward. He was the kind of guy who tended to ramble and embarrass himself under pressure, but god help him he _was_ a professional! Which was why he could not be late.

Except he was… he was very, very late. Curtis had to blame it on the New York City traffic, he was from a relatively small area of Texas so while he’d heard of the terrible city traffic, he hadn’t been expecting it to be quite as bad as it was.

The Taxi pulled to a stop in front of a building which seemed big and daunting to Curtis, though he knew that by New York standards this building was on the small side.

Curtis paid his fare quickly and entered the building checking his phone quickly to review the information he’d been sent before heading to the elevator.

He took a deep breath trying to steady his pounding heart. The elevator dinged and the door opened. As he stepped out, he was immediately greeted by a brightly smiling woman with bright orange and blue hair brandishing a clipboard.

“Hello!” 

“Um hello,”

“Are you here for the meeting about the community center?”

“Yes, I am.”

“Perfect! What’s your name?”

“Curtis Avery,”

“Ah,” she said checking her clipboard and making a check “welcome, I’m Ezor! We’re excited to have you on board! You can go ahead to the conference room over there.” She said pointing behind her “you made it just in time, we were about to start.”

“Okay, whew I thought I was late,”

She laughed easily “Mclain is generally late, so we usually start meetings fifteen or so minutes after it says on paper.”

“Okay that’s good, I was worried.”

“Don’t be! We’re all friendly here.”

“Noted,” Curtis smiled.

Ezor beckoned him forward and he followed her into the conference.

Curtis didn’t know what he’d been expecting but as he entered the room he let out a breath, the mood in the room seemed relaxed.

Everyone was gathered around a big table covered in papers and pens with laptops scattered around but it was lacking the strict uptight vibe Curtis was used to in his last job.

One side of the table a dark-haired woman was talking seriously with a pale-skinned and regal looking man, as Curtis passed them he caught a brief snippet of their conversation and almost laughed as he realized they were talking about Taylor Swift’s new album. On the other side, a large intimidating looking woman with short hair was tossing gummy bears into another woman’s mouth, her expression was relaxed but Curtis got the feeling she could beat him up with her hands tied.

At the head of the table Curtis recognized Lance Mclain, he’d been the one who interviewed Curtis. Plus, you couldn’t talk about soulmates these days without someone mentioning him.

Ezor pushed Curtis forward to an empty chair and took a seat beside him loudly tapping her clipboard on the table.

Everyone’s attention turned to her “Everyone’s here, we can get started now. Mclain?” She said gesturing to him.

He clapped excitedly “Perfect! Okay, so I know some of you already know each other, some of you just met and others haven’t got the chance yet. So we should start now that we’ve got a full team by introducing ourselves. Just tell everyone a little bit about yourself! Sound good?”

There was a chorus of agreements and nods.

“Great! So, I suppose I’ll start, my name is Lance Mclain. This project is kind of my baby, I got the idea for the community center while I was traveling around, speaking about soulmates and such. I used to be an event planner now it’s my goal to break down walls regarding soulmates, and most of all give everyone a safe space to just be and connect with other people. I uh accidentally got famous by posting a video online about soulmates, and now somehow I’m here.” He shrugged with a smile “Okay let’s go this way,”

The woman to Lance’s left nodded “Okay, I’m Axca I’m in charge of all the boring legal stuff that I’m sure none of you want to hear about.” She said with a shrug her expression remaining relatively blank.

Curtis expected her to say more but she didn’t and the person sitting next to her whom Curtis had previously noted to be intimidating spoke “Hi everyone,” Her voice was low but not rough or scary “She smiled lightly, I’m Zethrid. I’m from Florida, I moved up here recently to pursue my dream of making a difference. I’m the treasurer, so I’m in charge of all the money.”

Next was Ezor “Hi!” She said brightly “I’m Ezor, I’m the executive assistant. I’m so excited to be a part of this project and to get to work with everyone! I’m from New York, born and raised and I have four cats!”

As she finished she turned to Curtis “Um hi,” He greeted “I’m Curtis, I’m from Texas, I just moved to New York literally today. I’m going to be working in marketing and uh,” Curtis shook his head “I’m just glad I made it through traffic and got here alive today.”

There were knowing chuckles around the table “City traffic,” Lance nodded knowingly “It gets you.”

There were hums of agreement and then they were on to the next person.

“Hello,” The regal man said in a regal tone to match his looks “I’m Lotor, I’m the CEO is Galra Tech and I’m backing this project. It’s such a good cause that I wanted to be involved for real rather than just shoving money into and leaving it at that.” He chuckled.

“I’m Aleeza,” The dark-haired woman beside Lotor said, “I work in design, I’ll make everything look pretty for us.” She smiled easily, pushing her dark curls behind her ear “I’ve worked with Lotor for years now at Galra Tech and he knew this project was something I’d want in on, so he brought me on. I’m so looking forward to all the good we’re going to do.”

Lance smiled “Wonderful, now everyone knows each other. We have some other people who will be working with us but couldn’t make it today, you’ll all have the chance to meet them soon. Our team is small right now but we’re in the very beginning stages of putting this thing together, we’re making history here guys. We’ll be bringing on more people as things progress. Now, why don’t we start with the real estate…”

. . . .

After the meeting as Curtis was gathering his things and making small talk with his new coworkers when Lance approached him.

“Hey Curtis, it’s great to see you again. I’m really excited to have you on our team.”

“I’m excited to be here.” Curtis smiled shaking Lance’s hand. “I know we’re going to great things.”

Lance grinned easily “I really hope so.”

A figure appeared at the door and Lance turned suddenly in a way that seemed instinctive.

“Keith!” Lance said in surprise waving the man over.

“Hey,” Keith greeted.

The members of the team were trying to survey the newcomer subtly and failing quite miserably.

“I wasn’t expecting to see you today.”

“My shoot was much shorter than I expected, everything went perfectly… which never happens so I’m expecting something terrible to happen any time now.”

Lance rolled his eyes “Don’t be so negative, sometimes good things happen.”

“Whatever you say, Lance,” Keith replied shaking his head “are you done here? I thought we could get lunch before you go back home today if you’re okay with that. Unless you were planning on staying with me tonight?”

“Sure, I’m down for Lunch. I was planning on going home, but I’ll stay tonight if you want.”

“Oh no, whatever you want.” Keith awkwardly rubbed a blue flower on his hand in a way that seemed like a habit.

“Don’t be weird.”

“I’m not weird.”

“You totally are, you’re being awkward. What do you want?”

Keith paused “I want you to stay… I uh, found a new documentary on Netflix, I think you’d like it.”

“Aw, look that wasn’t so hard, communication! I’ll stay then, we’ll watch the documentary.”

“Okay,” A ring sounded suddenly, Keith startled pulling a phone from his pocket and frowning as he read the caller ID. “That’s work, something terrible has probably happened. I _knew_ we never just get perfect shoots. I’m going to take this, meet me outside?”

“Sure,” Lance agreed, waving as Keith departed.

As soon as Keith was out of earshot Ezor jumped up excitedly “Is that your soulmate?”

“Oh yeah,” Lance said.

“He seems nice,”

“He is, I mean he’s… Keith.” Lance shrugged like that meant something.

“I don’t know what you mean by that,” Ezor said cheerily “but y’all are awkward.”

Lance snorted “Yeah, sometimes. Guess that’s what happens when you’re broken up for years and then become friends again.” He shrugged.

“Well, I like him. He’s very pessimistic,” Ezor said seriously.

Lance rolled his eyes “That he is.” he said “Okay I should go. I’ll see you all back here in two days for a check-in. Ezor are you good to show our newest team members to their office space before you go?”

“Of course!”

“Okay I’ll see you guys soon, don’t hesitate to reach out if you need anything!”

. . . .

Curtis felt like a character in a book. The lost and lonely guy escapes is his old life and moves to a whole new city where he doesn’t know anyone.

It’ the perfect first chapter for some cheesy self-discovery story. Except if Curtis has learned anything it’s that his life is nothing like a book, there’s none of the glamour and certainly no meeting a mysterious man or woman who somehow happens to be his long-lost soulmate. That just doesn’t happen.

Curtis came home from work every night to a cramped and cold apartment, he then proceeded to lie in bed until around two A.M staring at the ceiling and trying to sleep, but everything was too loud.

Back in Texas, he was used to falling asleep to the sound of bugs chirping, the constant sound of traffic and people in the streets below in New York was unsettling and hard to get used to. So, Curtis started working later, and later, and even later. The truth was, he rarely went home these days.

Apparently, he was wrong in thinking no one noticed because one day Lance stopped by Curtis’s office on his lunch break.

“Hey,” Lance greeted rapping on the doorframe to announce himself.

Curtis looked up from his monitor, he’d been working with Aleeza on designing their website and social media pages for weeks now, he was proud of the work they’d been doing. Things were really moving along.

“Hi, what’s up?”

“Do you have any plans for this weekend?”

“Uh,” Curtis said in surprise not expecting the question “No, how come?”

“Well some friends of mine are having a barbeque this Sunday, I’m not sure if you’ve had the chance to relax a little since you moved here. They live just outside the city, I thought you might like to come.”

“Oh, uh thanks. But I don’t know…”

“One of my friends Shiro works in advertising, he specializes in creating videos. I honestly don’t know the technical term for what he does, that’s not my area of expertise,” Lance shrugged “but he’s agreed to help us make a video to introduce the community center to the world. I was hoping you’d work with him, and Aleeza too but we don’t need her design skills quite yet. So, if you came to the barbeque you can meet Shiro and talk a little about the video.”

Curtis hesitated; he was pretty sure Lance was manipulating him into getting out of the city for a while by luring him with work… but he couldn’t exactly say no. After a moment Curtis nodded “Okay, okay.”

“Great!” Lance smiled brightly “I’m staying here through Saturday night because I have a call early Sunday morning if you meet me here at ten and we can commute together if you’d like. Getting out of the city can be a bitch sometimes so you might want accompaniment since you’re new around here.”

“Oh yeah, that would be great.”

“Perfect, I’ll see you then.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, sorry it's been a while. I'm sure I'm not the only person who's had it rough lately. The entire world is turned upside down with Covid-19 and it's been hard. 
> 
> I was diagnosed with an immune disease literally days before self-isolation was ordered and I've been a bit scared of getting sick. I'm young and otherwise pretty healthy so I'd probably be okay if I got sick, but I've just been really stressed. I'm moving away from home this August and all the plans I had for my time left were canceled. My 18th birthday is next month and now I'm stuck home. But I know I'm lucky because I'm not sick and my family and friends aren't sick. I hope you all are staying safe and healthy and I'm here for any of you guys if you want to talk or just want me to write more shit for you to read.
> 
> (also this chapter is starting a certain arc, I bet some of you can kind of guess what it's going to be??) 
> 
> Love you guysss 💕💕💕💕


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